Few accessories have aroused such commentary, for and against, than the flower crown, so trendy of late among the neo-hippie festival crowd. Despite detractors, these decorative headpieces, whose history in mythology and art can be traced back to ancient civilizations, show no signs of fading from favor.

It’s a look that has roots. In agrarian societies, tied to the land and the seasons, flower crowns had great symbolic meaning. Worn for practical and ceremonial reasons, they could illustrate status and accomplishment (see Olympic olive wreaths). The language of flowersand herbs was well-known, with each carrying its own meaning. (“There’s rosemary, that’s for remembering. Please remember, love. And there are pansies, they’re for thoughts,” says Ophelia in Hamlet.) Full of significance, floral headdresses were woven into the social and sartorial traditions of destinations as distant as Russia and Hawaii.

With increasing industrialization, the flower crown became a romantic sign of the simple “country” life (longed for, in a stylized version, by Marie Antoinette) and increasingly appreciated for its decorative value. While brides continued the ceremonial traditions of flower-wearing, it was the earth-mother hippies who have most influenced the accessory’s current incarnation. Finding themselves partying rather than plowing, these flower children would truss their slept-in hair with wildflowers to signify their connection to nature.

In still more recent years, the blooms have even taken a subversive turn on the runways, with Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy adorning models with burnished coronets and cast-metal petals—and unleashing a fresh wave of flower mania amongst the fashion flock in the process. In honor of the summer solstice, an inspiring look back at flower crowns throughout history.